Chronicle AM: MA Advocates Push for No Pot Tax $$$ for Towns That Ban Pot Ops, More... (10/5/17)

It's all marijuana today, with Washington state considering personal grows, Delaware pondering legalization, Massachusetts activists trying to put the screws to towns that ban stores, and more.

Delaware Marijuana Task Force Meets, Hears Concerns. The state's Adult Cannabis Use Task Force met for the second time Wednesday and heard from the Department of Safety and Homeland Security. The department unsurprisingly wants strict regulations on marijuana if legislators decide to legalize it. Homeland Security Director John Yeomans said the department was against allowing personal cultivation because it could lead to a "grey market" and edibles should not be allowed because they could appeal to kids. The Chamber of Commerce also weighed in, expressing concerns about workplace injuries, unemployment claims, and how impairment would be defined. The task force will continue to meet on a monthly basis for the rest of the year and then make policy recommendations.

Massachusetts Advocates Say Towns With Pot Bans Shouldn't Enjoy Pot Tax Revenues. Pro-legalization advocates are working on a bill that would prevent towns that ban commercial marijuana operations from collecting a share of marijuana tax revenues. The Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council is talking to legislators about the proposal, which comes as more than a hundred municipalities in the state have enacted bans, moratoria, or other tough restrictions on pot businesses. "Any sensible person would agree, why should you get tax money if you don't have it in your town, it just doesn't make any sense," council vice-president Kamani Jefferson said in remarks reported by the Daily Free Press. "I think it will catch on even to the people who may not be in love with marijuana. If you don't put any work in, you shouldn't get any benefits is what we're really proposing to the Commonwealth."

Washington Regulators Get Earful at Hearing on Allowing Personal Cultivation. A three-member panel of the state Liquor and Cannabis Board held a hearing Wednesday on allowing home grows in the only legalization state that doesn't allow them. Most of the three dozen people who testified support home cultivation, but not the options being studied because they have too many restrictions and allow localities to ban personal grows even if legalized in the state. The panel must issue a report with recommendations to the legislature by December 1.

International

Canada Legalization Bill Sheds Language Restricting Plant Height. The Commons Health Committee on Tuesday scrapped a clause in the bill that would have made growing a plant taller than one meter a criminal offense. The provision had been criticized as arbitrary and difficult to enforce, with even the Ontario police and corrections ministry noting that "people could be criminalized for small amounts of overproduction." Others pointed out that someone could have a legal plant, go on vacation for a couple of weeks, and come back to an illegal plant. The limit of four plants per household remains intact, though.